Tron: Dawn
by DaniHyrosha
Summary: Tron isn't the only security program on the Grid. Spoilers for Legacy and Evolution, so be warned!  Extended Edition is now up!
1. Awakening

Disclaimer: I do not own Tron, or anything to do with Tron. I am not so lucky as to own Disney. They own Tron. I am a simple fan sharing a story…my first story. Please R/R.

Tron stood in front of one of the platforms for incoming programs. Why Flynn had asked that he personally met this program made no sense to him. Flynn's message had been simple at least; bring the new program to the command complex. Couldn't Flynn have just programmed it to activate at the command center, or at least tell him what it was? Tron did not like surprises. Worst of all, why pick the platform in the Outlands? Flynn always told Tron what programs were coming in there. They were usually new monitors or a sensitive program that wasn't ready for living in the city.

The sky above him lit up. Tron folded his arms over his chest as the program materialized in front of him. She was a little shorter than he was with data-lines a shade darker blue than his own. Her helmet masked any hint of what her face looked like. She stood like a perfect doll. She stared at Tron, which for some reason made him uneasy. He was full of even more questions now. Why a female program in the Outlands? What was her directive, considering she didn't look built for security? Tron shook his head. Flynn would answer all his questions, he always did.

"Greetings program," Tron said, "welcome to the Grid."

The program nodded. Tron handed her a baton.

"Do you know how to use this?" he asked.

"Lightcycle," she said in a quiet voice, "activate for ground transit when distance and speed are required; stealth mode available for expert-level programs."

Tron tried not to smile.

"I asked you if you knew how to use it, not what it does," he said.

"Yes, sir," she said, "I can use it. I was granted operator privileges."

"Then follow me," he said.

Without another word, Tron led her outside the platform area and engaged his Lightcycle. She was right behind him. He glanced a look at her. Had he been that way when he was first programmed, back before he had met Flynn and destroyed the MCP? He focused on the road ahead. He was still like that most of the time. Flynn often teased him about it. But Tron had opened up since Flynn created this Grid cycles ago, mostly when he was playing the Games on the Game Grid. In these Games, no one really lost because everyone walked away. He was the only program that remembered the previous system, where programs that lost their Games were derezzed on the spot.

Tron watched the lights as they entered the city. People smiled at him, some even waved. They all assumed the program behind him was a system monitor. He stopped at the city center, where Clu and Flynn were standing outside the command complex. Clu had a sour expression on his face. He apparently had been discussing the ISOs with Flynn again. Clu didn't understand what a miracle the free will of the ISOs was, and Flynn had tried time and again to explain it to him, to no avail. Tron and the new program walked up to Clu and Flynn. Flynn opened his arms and grinned when he saw Tron.

"You got her!" Flynn said, "Perfect, she's just what I've been waiting for, man."

Tron and Clu both looked at Flynn, confused. The young program's helmet hid any indication of what she was thinking. Flynn led them inside where the four could talk in private. The new program stood by the door of the room as Flynn invited Tron and Clu to sit down.

"I saw all the glitches with the ISOs and how hard it is to help them out when there are so many of them," Flynn said, "I know Tron, you've been trying your hardest and with the system monitors the Grid is as safe as it's ever been. But I wanted a program to help you out that could traverse the Outlands without a significant power drain. But the program didn't need to be a fighter. It needed to be agile and able to communicate with the ISOs on their level. But it also needed to be tough enough to survive the Outlands and anything that came up while it was on its own. So I made the Re-integrated Security Independent Evolution program. She can adapt to any situation she encounters and has enough space that she can learn almost as fast as you can, Tron. I gave her a copy of your Light Disc combat sub-routines and a fair amount of Lightcycle sub-routines. She can help keep the peace between ISOs and Basics."

The new program folded her helmet back. Her dark blue eyes locked with Tron's as he looked at her. Her face was familiar, but he couldn't place it. It was like she had popped out of a dream, only programs didn't dream. She gave him a small smile and he placed it. Her face features were different, with her shoulder length brown hair and white highlights out her temples, but the basic structure made him think of one program. He turned to Flynn.

"Why Yori's face?" Tron said.

"I don't know," Flynn said and looked at her face for the first time, "I didn't program her with that idea. Maybe I was thinking about Lora and all the things that happened when I first came to the Grid. I know I wanted to give her a friendly face."

The new program looked down, as if she knew that she looked like someone from the past that no one really talked about missing, but always did.

"Risie," Flynn finally said, "I didn't program you to be this quiet."

The new program looked up again. Tron could tell she was confused and a little scared.

"This is a lot of information to process," Risie said, "the Grid is so large. Am I supposed to protect all of it? There are so many programs here."

"I know what to do," Tron said, "Risie, was it?"

Risie nodded.

"Do you know where the Game Grid is?" he said.

Again, she nodded.

"I'll meet you there when we're done here," he said, "I have just the thing to make you feel more at home."

Risie smiled slightly and left. Clu stared at Tron.

"What are you doing?" Clu said.

Tron leaned back in his seat. Flynn knew what Tron was planning and laughed.

"You're enrolling her in the Disk Wars today," Flynn said.

"Aren't you competing today?" Clu said.

"That's what will make it a challenge," Tron said, "she needs to see what she can do. What better place to test your limits than in the Games?"

"This I gotta see," Flynn said.

The sound of the crowd filled Risie with a drive she didn't realize she could have. Tron had met her not long after she had arrived at the Game Grid. He explained his plan, to have her compete as an unknown in the Disk Wars. He explained the rules to her, which were fairly simple, wished her luck and saw her to her starting point. She didn't know if she was excited or afraid. She had only just come online and it felt like she was being tossed into a world she was unprepared for. But Tron's last words gave her a piece of comfort.

"No one dies here," he had said, "It's all just fun. Don't worry about what you are doing next or what they will think of you. Live in the moment and let it all go."

She walked out onto the arena floor. Her first challenge stood before her. The green-lit program did a back flip and smiled at her. He drew his Identity Disk and took up an attack stance. She pulled her own disk off her back and matched his stance.

"Let it all go." Tron's words echoed in her ears.

The buzzer to start the Games went off and he struck first. Without thinking, she blocked his disk and made a running leap at him. This caught him by surprise and she landed on his chest, knocking the challenger flat on his back. He has underestimated her and paid for it with his pride. She held her disk above her head and his eyes went wide.

"Don't underestimate programs," she said quietly, "they might surprise you."

He nodded. She stood up and offered him her hand. He took it and stood next to her.

"You're new to the Games," he said, "Watch your back, not everyone always plays fair."

He left the arena. Two more challengers came and went before she made it to the finals. Risie stretched her arms and looked at her final challenger. Sure enough, Tron stood in front of her. He held his disk loosely in his hand. Risie dropped hers.

"Primary Function conflict," she said in a monotone, "Assist Tron program. Current program directive: compete in Game Grid Disk Wars."

"You're not going to conflict with your Primary Functions," he said, "Win or lose, it's just a game."

She shook her head and picked up her disk. She took up a defensive stance. Tron followed suit and when the buzzer to begin the round sounded, they launched themselves at each other. Tron went to attack her mid-section, only to find that it wasn't there. She had leapt above him, her legs curled up and arms spread wide. He jumped back as she landed where he had been with enough force to shake the floor.

He had told her to let her feelings go and play the game. Now she was playing to win with all her skills. Most of those skills, though never used, had come from his own program. Tron knew he had to step up a notch if he wanted to win this match.

He rolled to the side as she launched herself at him, standing up and slamming his arm into her back. She landed on her stomach, sliding into the wall. She stood and without so much as a pause, charged again. This time she stayed low and went into a slide, trying to take Tron's legs out from under him. She succeeded, but he took her down with him. They rolled away from each other and launched one more attack. This time Tron hit her square in the chest. She yelled and crumpled next to him. The crowd went wild and Tron's helmet folded back. He was breathing hard.

"First big challenge I've had this cycle," he said, "that really hurt."

He could hear Risie under him, growling in frustration and breathing just as hard as Tron himself.

"I'm impressed," he said, "most people use disk combat as a ranged attack and try to avoid hand to hand,"

"I assessed the situation," she said, "you are an expert in disk combat and thus you are used to people throwing disks at you."

"Flynn was right, you really can adapt to anything," he said, "I look forward to working together. Are you feeling better?"

"Much," she said, "I like these Games."

"You can come here and compete whenever you want," he said.

They left the Game Grid together. Tron took her back to the command complex to learn everything she would need to defend and protect the Grid. By the time Flynn returned to the "Real World", she was ready to assume her directive.


	2. Betrayal

Disclaimer: I do not own Tron, or anything to do with Tron. I am not so lucky as to own Disney. They own Tron. I am a simple fan sharing a story…my first story. Please R/R.

_TC301_

_I don't like Clu._

_He's up to something. I was restricted access to the secure areas under the command complex. Why would he do that? I snuck down there anyway. I heard someone screaming, and one of the walls had yellow "decay" all over it. It shouldn't be possible for a virus to get into our closed system. Flynn wouldn't allow it._

_And then there's the ISOs. I know Clu acts like he's okay with them, but I know he hates them and would just as soon erase them all. I told Radia, but she said I worry too much, that Clu wants nothing but peace for the system. Tron is starting to suspect Clu too. Clu is drezzing programs in the Games when they lose. Tron and I don't play anymore._

_I wonder what I should do._

_-End of Line-_

"You really should go to the ceremony," Gibson said, "isn't Radia your friend."

Risie looked over at her ISO friend. She liked Gibson for his blunt honesty, but she really didn't want to hear it today. Radia was being installed as a co-System Administrator. Another ISO, Jalen, was supposed to have the honor, but died in the Games. Risie suspected foul play.

"I told her I'd keep my ears open," Risie said, "but I don't think Clu is as excited about it as he acts like."

"You think he'll try something?" he said.

Risie nodded. They had been sitting at the End of Line club's bar since programs had started gathering for the ceremony. Gibson would not be attending either, stating that there were enough ISOs there that he really wasn't needed, or interested. He respected Radia, but she was from a different faction than he was and they really didn't talk much.

A scream made them both turn. Both ran to the window and saw programs running in the streets. Some were infected by a yellow virus. Risie clenched her fists.

"I have to get to Tron," she said, "he's probably with Flynn. We have to get him out of the system."

"I'll help," Gibson said, "where do you want me to go."

"We'll meet at the Arcade," she said, "you go around the city center and I'll cut through this mess."

Both ran out of the club and parted ways. Risie folded down her helmet and ran into the crowd, derezzing infected programs wherever she found them. She was almost to Flynn's Arcade when she heard Clu's voice just ahead.

"Flynn!" he yelled, "am I still to create the perfect system."

Confused, Flynn answered, "Yah…"

There was a pause, and then she heard Tron yell:

"Flynn! Go!"

Risie bolted around the next building and into the area in front of the arcade. She spotted Flynn as he ran around the building across from her. Tron was fighting Clu's elite guards with two disks. She didn't have time to process why he had two disks when Clu ripped them from Tron's hands, overpowering the security program and slamming the disks into Tron's chest. Tron screamed and Risie pounced on Clu. She knocked the disks out of his hands and stood between him and Tron.

Her attacks were relentless. Tron struggled up onto his elbow to watch Clu recover from his surprise, pulling out his own disk and smashing Risie's helmet. She cried out and fell back and landed beside Tron. She picked up his disk, still laying on the ground, and renewed her attack. Clu didn't seem to be taking any damage. The more she pressed the more damage Clu did to her.

"Risie!" Tron yelled, "Go! Get Flynn out of here!"

"I'm not leaving you here," she said.

"Risie," Tron said, "he'll kill you."

If she heard him, she made no indication. Clue grabbed her by the throat and tossed her into the building. Tron got a good look at her face. A thin black line crossed her cheek bones and the bridge of her nose where Clu had sliced her face. She got to her feet and threw Tron's disk at Clu. Clu knocked it away and charged at her. She tried to dodge his attack, but he slashed her in the stomach. She cried out in pain and fell on one knee. She blocked his next attack with her disk. He went to attack her again when Tron hit him from behind. Clu turned to Tron, who weakly stood in a battle stance with two disks.

"GO!" Tron yelled.

Tron leapt at Clu, allowing Risie the time to engage her Lightcycle and escape the battle. She turned back to see Clu standing above an unconscious Tron and yelling for two guard to follow her. She rode off at full speed, never looking back, until she finally reached the Sea of Simulation in the Outlands, where they could not follow her, and collapsed.

Risie heard two disjointed voiced as she faded in and out of consciousness.

"…she survived…"

"What could have…"

"…too much damage…"

"…reroute the programming…"

"…gaps in the sub-routines…"

"…be alright."

Risie slowly opened her eyes. She raised one hand, turning it in the air and looking at it. Her armor lines were flickering in and out. A firm hand clasped her own. Risie looked at the owner.

Flynn smiled at her in relief. Behind him, Quorra stood looking towards the city. Flynn put a hand behind Risie's back and helped her sit up. His touch energized her, lighting her armor lines.

"I shouldn't have left him," Risie said.

"Who?" Flynn said.

"Tron," she said, "he was fighting Clu. I saw Clu try to derezz him and something happened. All I wanted to see was Clu shatter into pixels. Nothing else mattered. I couldn't think straight. Tron finally got me to run away."

"Was he alive?" he said.

"I don't know," she said, "I feel like I can still hear him screaming."

"We need to find a place to hide," Quorra said, "if Clu finds out you're trapped her, he'll hunt you too."

"He knows," Flynn said, "that was part of his plan. He wants my disk. It's the master key for the entire system."

"This is my fault," Risie said, "Oh! The ISOs! If Clu has become this powerful, then I have to warn Radia and Gibson. We can hide them out here where Clu can't find them."

Quorra lowered her head.

"We're too late," Flynn said, "Clu wiped them out. Quorra is the last one."

Risie and Quorra looked at each other. The two women locked eyes. After a moment, Risie nodded and struggled to her feet. Her armor lines flickered and Flynn caught her as she fell.

"Your code is damaged," Flynn said, "it has more holes than a slice of Swiss Cheese."

"Swiss Cheese?" Risie said.

Flynn tried not to smile.

"Something with a lot of holes," he said, "Quorra has a point. We need to find somewhere safe. I need to repair your code and it will take a long time from in here."

Risie leaned on Flynn's shoulder as they trekked through the Outlands. It felt like an eternity before Quorra spotted a raw energy conduit on a cliff-face. When Flynn put his hand on it, the geography itself changed, creating a small building out of the top of the cliff-face. He made a lift for them to use and they entered the building. It was a simple room. Flynn programmed a couch and lay Risie on it. Risie's consciousness faded out until a sudden burst of pain jolted her awake. Her whole body was rigged and her voice felt like she had been screaming. She was breathing hard. Across from her, Flynn sat with her disk, deep in concentration. Quorra knelt beside her, holding Risie's hand tightly in her own. Risie tried to calm herself.

"She's coming around!" Quorra said.

Flynn breathed a sigh of relief.

"Turn her over," he said, "let's get her rebooted."

Quorra turned Risie on her side. Risie felt her disk click into place on her back. Everything went dark again, but when she awoke this time, the pain and fatigue were gone. She slowly sat up and looked around.

Flynn had programmed himself a home. He stood on the balcony outside. He was dressed in white and from her angle, Risie could see hair on his face. His hands were folded behind his back. Risie rose and joined him. Both were silent as they starred at the city. It felt darker than usual. Flynn spoke without moving.

"Feeling better?" he said.

She nodded. She clenched and unclenched her hands.

"I gave you a self-repair routine," he said, "I couldn't repair all the damage, but I got most of it and routed around the rest. Your new routine should keep fixing the damage and also repair anymore you might get."

"So what's the plan?" she said.

"You've been on the edge of life and death for who knows how many cycles," Flynn said, "now you're asking me my plan?"

"How do we remove Clu from power?" Risie said, "there were a lot of Basics with ISO friends. We can gather their help."

"Clu is too strong to be taken from the outside," he said, "we wait for him to make a mistake."

"He's not programmed to make mistakes," she said, "you know that."

"Quorra and I have tried to fight back," he said, "the more I fight, the stronger he gets."

"So we wait," she said.

He nodded. Risie closed her eyes. She tried to focus. Her evolving programming, however, went into overdrive. It took all the data she knew, assessing the situation at hand. It came to one conclusion, a question rather than an action.

Was Tron still alive somewhere?

That question infected her every thought. She knew it was against all logic to set one program above the welfare of the system. Nothing she could come up with would erase the question. She knew what she had to do. She smiled as she thought of her first Disk Wars match. She could almost see Tron's face.

"_Live in the moment and let it all go."_

"I'm going back," she finally said, "I have to know."

Flynn turned to her. She opened her eyes and looked at him.

"Tron wasn't dead when I left," Risie said.

"He is by now," he said, "either Clu killed him or his programming fell apart from the amount of damage."

"I still have to know," she said, "tell Quorra I'm sorry I couldn't save her people."

"It wasn't your fault," he said.

"I know," she said, "but I also knew that Clu was up to something and would have erased them all long ago if he could have. I did not act and my inaction caused the deaths of many."

She turned her back to him and went to leave. Flynn grabbed her arm. Risie didn't even look at him.

"What did you call me?" she said quietly, "an Independent Evolution?"

He swallowed hard. He was afraid of what she would say next.

"I can't get him out of my head," she said, "I feel something…something I can't explain."

"I can," he said, "but you need to learn it on your own."

He let her go and watched outside. He saw her Lightcycle headed for the city and doubted her would see her again.

The city was quieter than Risie remembered. She had no idea how long she had been offline. People kept their distance from her. She disengaged her Lightcycle. Clu's elite guards patrolled everywhere. She engaged her stealth mode and made her way to the central complex.

She entered though the unoccupied access tunnels to make her way to the cells under the complex where they kept rouge programs. The only lights were from the armor lines of the guards and prisoners. She snuck into an area she had never seen. The door said it was restricted to the highest level clearance. She saw the guard before he saw her and smashed him into the door. She used his disk to open the door, then derezzed him on the spot.

In the center of the room, Tron was bound with his arms outstretched. His hands were encased and his head hung low. His armor lines were orange instead of light blue, save the "T" logo on his chest. She disengaged her stealth mode and approached him.

"Tron?" she said quietly.

He slowly raised his head. A trio of lines went down the left side of his face, like something had clawed their way across it.

"Risie?" he said weakly, "were did you come from?"

"Long story," she said, "though I guess it's shorter than yours. I came to find you."

"Flynn?" he said.

"The portal was closed before we found each other," she said, "he safe though. He and Quorra, an ISO friend, are watching out for each other."

"You should stay with him," he said.

"Now without you," she said.

"I can't," Tron said, "Clu repurposed me. I don't know what he has planned. It's almost complete. I won't be myself anymore."

"Flynn fixed me," Risie said, "he'll fix you too."  
Without another word, she took out her disk. She started slicing carefully into the casing around his hand. He winced as sparks flew. She freed one hand, then the other. Tron collapsed and she caught him, pulling one of his arms over her shoulders. She could hear a soft growl in his chest.

She helped him back to the door when she looked up to see Clu and two of his elite guards. Risie shifted Tron's weight and held out her disk, putting her other arm around Tron's waist. Weakly, Tron pulled out his own disk.

"You think you can escape?" Clu said, "last time I almost killed you both."

"Things change, Clu," Risie said, "step aside."

"You can't save him," Clu said, "just look at him."

Risie's grip tightened around Tron's waist. She put her disk on her back and folded down her helmet.

"Hang on," she whispered.

Tron did so and Risie jumped into the air and right over Clu and his guards. She ran as fast as she could until they were outside the main doors. Clu's guards surrounded them. Tron could feel Risie's armor change as she assessed the situation and adapted for heavy combat. She pulled her disk back out and heard Clu laughing behind them.

The growl in Tron's chest grew louder as his eyes squeezed shut in pain. Risie's helmet folded up and her eyes darted everywhere. Tron was breathing hard against the pain. The "T" on his chest started flickering.

"I'm thinking," Risie said quietly, "fight as hard as you can and I'll get us out of this mess."

"I can't" he said, "leave me here and run for it."

Tron looked up at Risie. Her eyes told him she knew he was right, that if she stayed she would die.

"I'm not leaving," she said.

Tron cried out in pain and fell to his knees. Risie knelt beside him. Her eyes filled with fluid. Tron put a hand on her shoulder and tried to shove her away. She put a hand on his scarred cheek. Their eyes locked and Risie knew it was over. His eyes glazed over.

"Goodbye," she whispered.

Tron's helmet folded down and he leapt to the side. The "T" on his chest reflected it's orange light in Risie's eyes. He split his disk in two and took up an attack stance.

Behind them, Clu clapped his hands. He was smiling.

"Tron's dead Risie," Clu said, "he's Rinzler now."

"You're sick Clu," Risie said, "turning him into that."

"He's perfect now," Clu said, "Rinzler, get rid of her."

Without a word, the figure that was Tron charged at Risie. There was no hesitation in his movement as he attacked. Risie ducked, using the momentum of his charge to launch him over her head and drew her dist. She blocked the disk Tron threw at her, but he slicked into her free arm with the other. Risie yelled, clutching her arm to her chest. Her helmet folded down as she got to her feet.

"You can't win," Clu said.

"I don't have to win," Risie said, "I just can't lose."

She charged at Tron. No, she told herself as they clashed, not Tron. Rinzler. She leapt back and landed on his chest, causing him to fall on his back. She jumped over his head, but his disk came up and sliced into her leg. She engaged her Lightcycle as she fell, setting her disk on her back. She sped into the city core.

Once she was far enough away, she disengaged her Lightcycle. She took a long coat from someone's window and faded into the crowd.

Author's note: here's what was said when Flynn and Quorra found her –

Quorra: "I can't believe she survived. What could have done this to her?"

Flynn: "There's too much damage to repair. I have to reroute the programming to compensate."

Quorra: "But there will be gaps in the sub-routines."

Flynn: "In the end, she'll be alright."


	3. Captured

**Author's Note:** I think I'm getting the hang of this. By the way, one of my friends read this and suggested an "Extended Edition" with more detail and a few added scenes (one he mentioned specifically was more detail in Risie's first Disk Wars). I'd like to know what you guys think, so post your ideas in the reviews please :)

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Tron, I don't own Disney. Disney owns Tron. I'm just a fan-girl.

Risie sat at the new End of Line club in the city center. She was often found here. She had abandoned any hope of restoring the system long ago. She was sitting at the bar, thinking about the day Tron had become Rinzler. She never went back to Flynn. Quorra had found her, hiding on the edge of the city near the Game Grid, almost ten cycles later. It must have been almost a thousand cycles now since then, but the conversation still haunted Risie.

"Risie!" Quorra had said, "You're alive! Did you find him?"

"Not really," Risie had said.

"What happened?" Quorra had said.

Should she tell Quorra what she had found? That Tron was now Clu's right hand enforcer, the feared Rinzler. Rinzler was master of the Games and ruthless. He obeyed Clu without question. No, it was too painful. She had failed to protect the ISOs. She had failed to get Flynn home. She had failed to rescue Tron. She would live with her pain alone. No one would know of her failure. The system she had protected, the system she had been created to serve, was gone. Clu had taken it all from her.

"Clu's new right hand, Rinzler, killed him," Risie finally had said, "just as I found him in the city. He was already badly wounded. I don't think Flynn could have saved him. They shattered his disk."

"So come home," Quorra had said, "Flynn will be happy to see you. He thought you were dead."

"Not so lucky I am afraid," Risie had said, "no, I'm not going back. Not ever."

"Then what will you do?" Quorra had asked.

"I will fight Clu until the day he derezzes me," Risie had said.

"You sound like you want him to," Quorra had said.

"I don't know," Risie had said, "but I do know one thing. I will make him regret and pay for what he's done. I will kill his guards and I will kill him too."

"You can't," Quorra said, "and what about this… Rinzler?"

Risie had paused then, a feeling in her chest like a hole ripping open causing her to curl up in pain. What would she do if she faced Rinzler again?

"I'll kill him too," Risie had said.

Rinzler was not Tron, she had decided. Tron would not want to live this way. If she could not restore his program, she would derezz him. Flynn could always find a backup somewhere once this was all over. Tron would never remember being Rinzler.

Risie shook her head, remembering the feeling in her chest that day. It had become a dull ache since then, but it never went away. Not unless she was actively hunting Clu's guards or running from them. She had found another purpose too. Recently, the different anti-Clu factions had been mobilizing, attacking guards and making Clu's job all around a little harder. Risie was here to meet the leader of one faction now.

Sure enough, a tall and large program sat beside her. His green armor lines lit the damage on his face with an eerie light. He turned to her.

"Are you the Black Slayer?" he said.

"Right on time I see," she said, "you have a proposition for me?"

"We'd best talk somewhere a little more private," he said.

He led her way from the bar to a small unoccupied corner. She knew he didn't dare lead her away from the club. Her reputation as the Black Slayer was well known. She derezzed any of Clu's guards on sight. If she thought you were a program that had sided with Clu, she would generally attack without warning, especially if she thought you were double-crossing her. However, if Clu's guards were chasing you, there was no one better to have find you. A lot of programs were saved from having to go to the new Games because of her intervention.

"We have a group that stole some energy nodes from the central complex just a little while ago," he said, "we need someone to watch our backs while we transfer the nodes to a safer location."

"And in return for making sure everything goes well?" she said.

"You will receive one of the nodes as payment," he said, "not much in the grand scheme of things, I know. But I was told you specialize in jobs that will make Clu angry."

"I do enjoy making him have a bad day," she said, "and a node would be useful. What's the catch?"

"It's in an area where they increased security," he said, "we can't get our people out of there without attracting attention. Most of them assume that they'll die when we do this. I just want my losses at a minimum."

"Alright, but I need something else," she said, "a blank ID disk."

"For a power node?" he said.

"Yes," she said, "because I'm going to see them all the way through. I was going to try and get an ID disk here, but as luck would have it, I heard you know a Siren on the Gaming Grid. Give me the ID disk, and I'll get Clu as angry as you want him."

"Deal," he said, "they said you were a little pricy."

"Sometimes," she said, "so when do we leave?"

"As soon as I can get you the disk," he said, "two microcycles enough time?"

"Plenty," she said, "where do I go?"

"The old solar sailer docks," he said, "and bring a way out, just in case."

He left and she smiled. She didn't wait long after he was gone to return to her "home". It wasn't really much of a home. It was an abandoned building on the edge of the city, facing the Outlands. It wasn't far from the Gaming Grid either. All that was inside was a couch that doubled as a bed when she was exhausted. The panel on the wall was covered with Gaming Grid scores and matches. Between the couch and panel was a large table covered in supplies and various tools. She sat at the table as the current match ended and the new scores were posted.

Risie was making a new set of weapons for herself. She could not program anything new. That was an ability only a User could obtain, but she could take parts from one weapon and combine them with another to make something else. She had just finished taking apart an old baton. She was trying to create a zip-line tool by combining a laser whip and a staff. So far most of her attempts had ended in failure.

She was taking apart a second baton when she looked at the scores. Rinzler had not competed in the match, but he was scheduled to compete in the one starting soon. She watched the matches whenever she could. Sometimes Quorra would come and watch them with her from the top of the stands. Risie knew that she was only causing herself more pain by watching Rinzler compete. His fighting style had never changed though, and when she watched, it was like watching Tron compete when she was still a new program. It was the one part of her past she allowed to remain a part of herself.

Suddenly the match lineup changed and Rinzler was no longer competing. She found that odd, but paid it no attention as she was consumed in her work. Time passed until she realized she needed to leave for the old solar sailer docks. She left her work and rode her Lightcycle to the darker side of the city.

When Risie arrived, she noticed a dozen programs hiding beside the remains of an unused Solar Sailer. This was the dock that used to go to the ISO cities. No one came here anymore unless they were looking for a place to hide. The Solar Sailer here had been damaged in the Purge to destroy all the ISOs. Clu left it as a reminder to those who had been friendly to ISOs: he'd do it to them too.

She disengaged her Lightcycle and approached them. Her helmet hid her face. One of the programs saw her and smiled in relief. He held one of four black cases. He set it on the ground and opened it for her to inspect.

Inside were six vials of glowing liquid. Risie picked one and turned it over in her hand. She nodded in approval. She then looked up to see his companion with an inactive Identity Disk. The companion handed it to her. She activated the interface to confirm it was empty, then finally spoke as she pulled out her own and replaced it with the empty one.

"Stay here," she said.

She scouted the area. There were no guards to be found. She disabled the security sensors and returned to the group. She accompanied them to the abandoned plaza, where four more programs were waiting. One was more nervous than the others, their eyes darting left and right. The transfer was completed and just as the four new programs were leaving, a Recognizer flew overhead. The nervous program screamed and ran off.

"We were set up!" the program who had given her the disk said, "run for it!"

Three more Recognizers landed, surrounding the group. Thinking there was no time like the present to try a new tool, Risie pulled a small pair of clamps from her waist, using them to hook the blank disk to her own. She waited only a moment and the two fused together. When she deactivated and reactivated her disk it reset. She could now split hers in two. She smiled. Take that Rinzler.

"Make for the old maintenance hatch!" she said as she split her new disk.

The programs fled and Risie launched into a flurry of spinning disks. All but two of the guards were nothing but a pile of pixels by the time the other programs had escaped. The two remaining guards backed away as a fifth Recognizer landed behind Risie. She spun around to see a single occupant exit the Recognizer.

Rinzler.

Risie immediately derezzed the remaining two guards, catching her disks and taking up a defensive stance as Rinzler walked towards her. He didn't attack, like he was waiting for something. Then she looked up at the cockpit of the Recognizer. Clu was standing there with his arms folded.

"So," Risie smirked, "a trap for me. I'm honored."

Risie spun around, kicking Rinzler in the face as he drew his own disk. He grabbed her foot, flipping her around to land on her back. He split his own disk, crouching to strike. She leapt up at him, trying to knock him over while searching for an escape route. The Recognizers that had surrounded her before were gone, replaced by new ones that were full of guards. She knew she was outnumbered. She back-flipped away from Rinzler, combining her disk and raising it above her head. She deactivated it and looked at Clu.

"You win!" she said, "what do you want?"

Without a word, Rinzler put his own disks away. He grabbed her by the arm and shoved her into the Recognizer he had exited. She was silent as they flew to the Game Grid. They landed outside, near what she assumed to be Clu's transport ship.

"If you survive the Games," Clu said, "I'll tell you."

"Easy enough," Risie said.

Two guards came up and took her to the platform that would descend to the Game Grid's armory. They let her keep her disk, which made Risie smile. Rinzler watched as she descended. Risie's helmet folded back as four Sirens approached her. One took her disk and lay it on the floor, then the four stripped her of her armor.

A new black body-suit covered Risie. Her adaptive programming at first went to change it, then she realized that if she wanted to blend in, she needed to look like all the other combatants. Besides, it only took a moment for her normal armor to change and adapting this one wouldn't take any time either. The Sirens put the armor on top of the body-suit, where it encased her. The lines on it took a dark blue color, just like her original armor. The Sirens snapped her disk back on her back.

Risie smiled; first mistake.

"Disk synchronized, armor active, proceed to Games," one said.

Risie shrugged. The Sirens disappeared and the door in front of Risie opened. She exited into a strange lift. It was clear, a cell for each combatant so they could see each other. Some of the other combatants' eyes were filled with fear and dread. Some were already whimpering, ready to die. A few looked at Risie, sizing her up and deciding a female program would be an easy target.

Risie smiled; second mistake.

The lift took the combatants to the fighting Arena above them. Risie could hear the crowd roaring above her. She looked around. The Arena was full and even Clu, from the bridge of his transport, was watching the games. Risie waited until her cell opened.

"Round One. Player Two versus Player Four," she heard the announcer's voice, "Disk Wars."

Risie looked across the cells. A nervous program was shaking, his hands barely able to hold his disk. Risie shook her head and pulled out her disk, triggering a visor to lower over her face.

"Sorry about this," she said, "at least it won't hurt much."

She jumped over the gap between the open cells. The program was so surprised that he didn't notice Risie shattering the floor under him until he was falling. Risie stood and shook her head.

"Player Four," the announcer said, "deresolution. Player Two, win."

"One down," Risie said to no one, "three to go."

Her cell moved to connect with another one.

"Round Two. Player Two versus Player Seven. Disk Wars."

This program did a few flips to show off, then immediately leapt across the gap at her. She threw her disk, jumped up, grabbed it and slammed it into his back, shattering him into a pile of pixels.

"Player Seven, deresolution. Player Two, win."

Risie leaned against the wall as her cell moved again.

"Round Three. Player Twelve versus Player Two. Disk Wars."

This program was more wary of her. He tossed his disk, spinning so he could catch it as it bounced off the wall. Risie easily dodged it and threw her own. He dodged her as well. She tossed it as soon as it hit her hand again, and leapt across at the same time. He turned to her and didn't see the disk flying back as it sliced his mid-section. He shattered like the others.

"Player Twelve, deresolution. Player Two, win."

Risie watched as the cell around her changed. She knew what was coming. There were only two programs left to fight.

"Round Four. Player Ten versus Player Two. Disk Wars."

The fact that it wasn't called the final round caught Risie off guard enough that she had to slide on one knee and hold up her disk to block the first attack. The program leapt at her, trying the same trick she had just pulled in her own match. Risie smiled and smashed the floor in front of her. She lay flat on the floor as the combatant sailed right past her and shattered. His disk flew over Risie's head and landed on the far side of the cell. Risie stood, looking at Clu.

"I win!" she yelled.

The cells merged into a single playing field. Risie felt a knot form in her stomach. She knew what this was too.

"Final Round. Player Two verses Rinzler."

The crowd roared as Rinzler entered the arena. He drew his disk and split it. Risie lowered her head.

"You've got to be kidding me," she said as she split her own, "this is really going to hurt."

As he threw his first disk at her, she jumped out of the way. He launched the second and she had to twist her body in the air to miss it, crossing her arms to make herself a smaller target. She landed in a crouch and looked up as he caught his disks.

"So that's how it is," she said, "alright, let's see if you remember this one."

She leapt up into the air as he charged at her, her legs curled up to give her space to maneuver. He looked up as her feet landed on his helmet, causing him to stumble backwards. He growled at her and spun around, catching her shoulder with his disk. Risie yelled, landing on her knees and barely rolling away in time to avoid his second disk. A buzzing noise distracted Risie and Rinzler ran for the wall. Risie was barely on her feet when the ceiling became the floor. She landed flat on her back and looked up as Rinzler tried to land on her head. She rolled onto her feet, blocking both his disks with her own.

"Live in the moment," she found herself muttering.

"And let it all go…" he muttered.

Risie stopped. No one had ever heard Rinzler speak, at least, no one that lived to tell anyone. No one knew what she did about him.

"Tron?" she said..

His next attack was so violent that it knocked Risie to her knees. He went for another blow, but the buzzer went off again and he sprinted for the wall. She didn't have time to recover before she was face first on the floor below. She rolled over and looked up just in time for Rinzler to land on her stomach. He dug one disk into her arm. She screamed and her visor folded back. He raised his other disk for the killing blow.

And nothing happened.

He was frozen, unmoving above her. Risie's eyes tried to peer into his black helmet to catch what he was thinking.

"Do it," she finally said, "if there really is nothing left of Tron in you, just do it."

Rinzler slammed the disk down and Risie waited for the pain before the end. It never came. He had slammed it into the tile next to her, shattering the floor but leaving her otherwise unharmed. His growl was softer than it had been when the match started.

Rinzler pulled her to her feet, grabbing her disks and forcefully taking her to Clu's ship. Risie held her damaged arm as they arrived. Rinzler gave Clu her disk, which he had fused on the way up, then stood behind her.

"Where is he?" Clu said.

"There are a lot of 'he' programs Clu," Risie said, "got one in mind?"

"Flynn!" Clu said angrily, "Where is Flynn?"

"I haven't seen him since Tron died," she said, "he's around, but the Grid is a big place. He was alive a thousand cycles ago. I'm going to guess he still is, since you're still looking for him."

He activated the interface on her disk, watching her memories from the last few cycles. Once he was satisfied, he handed it back to one of his guards.

"So what happens now, Clu?" Risie said, "We do this about every hundred cycles. You catch me, I win the Game. You ask me where he is and look at my disk. I disable your guard, get my disk, derezz the rest and ride out of here. Are we really going to do this again?"

"No," Clu said, "I have something different in mind."

He took her disk from the guard and snapped it into place on her back. Risie chuckled, but that chuckle died on her lips as a searing pain ripped through her body. Her back went rigid and she realized she couldn't move.

"I'm tired of you derezzing my guards," he said, "so I am going to do to you what I did to your companion."

A look of horror crossed Risie's face as Clu began rearranging her program. Her body was frozen as she screamed. Finally, he finished and she collapsed. She looked at her hands. The lines were a dark red color.

"What did you do?" she said.

"I disabled your combat routines for now," he said, "take her below."

Two guards took her by the elbows and lifted her to her feet. She tried to grab her disk, but her body would not obey. As they took her out, she yelled back at Clu.

"I'm going to kill you, Clu!" she cried out in rage.

The guards stopped as Clu laughed.

"How? You can't even activate your disk," he said.

"I don't know how," she said, "but when this is all over, you will be dead, not derezzed. I will tear you apart until you are screaming for the end!"

Clu laughed and the guards dragged her to the cells below the city, her screams echoing until long after she was gone.


	4. Hope

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Tron. Disney owns Tron. I don't own Disney. *sigh* I'm broke. Enjoy, please R&R.

Risie stood bound in the same cell as Tron had been so many cycles ago. It had been ten cycles since Clu had imprisoned her, slowly corrupting and rearranging her code. Every time he changed her code she experienced excruciating pain. By now, the pain was constant as the code corrupted itself while he was absent. Her armor lines on her arms and legs were a dark red. Only her chest and back were still dark blue. She thought of this as Clu stood behind her, accessing her disk.

"This would be easier if you just gave in," he said.

"I'll give in," she said, "after I kill you."

"Are you still set on that?" he asked as he deleted another line of code, "no one is going to help you."

Risie's growl turned into a shriek as her code changed. She kept screaming until he was done realigning the code, stepping in front of her. Now the armor lines on her back matched her arms and legs.

"Sir," a guard said as he entered the room, "we have the Master Key. A program named Zuse obtained it."

"Let's go," Clu said, "I'll come see you when I get back, Risie. I'll tell Flynn you said hello."

Risie stared at Clu's back as he left, imagining a dozen ways she wanted to shatter his disk. After he was gone, she hung her head and let the pain consume her.

An explosion and the yell of a terrorist attack shook Risie's cell, causing the power to flicker. She used all the energy she could muster to free herself. The bonds on her hands shattered, releasing her. Her armor lines flickered as she fell to her knees. She heard guards yelling and the door opened. Risie smirked and drew her disk from her back.

"Shouldn't have turned on the combat routines," she said to no one.

The guards never knew what hit them. Risie split her disk and charged. She sliced open the power relays imprisoning the other programs as she ran past them. She engaged her Lightcycle outside and didn't stop until she got home. She glanced at her scoreboard, still active, and stopped in her tracks.

The match was long over. What had caused her to stop was the "cancelled" label across Rinzler's match. His opponent was an unknown, but the eyes Risie recognized. She looked at the opponent's picture hard.

"Flynn!" she said.

She spun on her heel to look out the window. The sky held a single white light. The portal to the User world was open! It flickered out almost as soon as she spotted it. Then another light filled the sky. A shockwave hit the city. Buildings crumbled, hers included. By the time Risie escaped the ruins of her home, the city was in chaos.

She walked back towards the city center. Immediately she heard the rumors. Clu was dead and Flynn with him. They had met and neither had survived. The new User that had come was gone. No one was left to run the Grid.

Risie found herself in the plaza in front of the central complex. She wasn't sure what idea had brought her here. Resistance faction members were attacking the guards. Two of the leaders, however, were attacking each other. Risie dove between them, grabbing their disks and then tossing both programs across the plaza. She then threw their disks at them, embedding the disks in the wall next to their program's heads. The chaos around her calmed and all eyes were on her.

"Clu is dead and you are no better than he was!" Risie shouted, "The Grid is going to fall apart and you are fighting each other."

One program approached Risie from the gathering crowd. He was nervous, but his eyes told her that he suspected who she was.

"You were the security program that made peace with the ISOs," he said, "you knew Tron."

Risie nodded.

"Will you lead us?" he said.

Risie's eyes went wide.

"What did you say?" she said.

"Will you lead us?" he said again.

Her hands went limp. Her eyes clearly reflected the shock she felt. She shook her head.

"Have the faction leaders meet me at the Game Grid," she finally said, "If I can get them to work together, then I think I can."

"Thank you," he said with a smile.

It took three cycles for Risie to restore order and an uneasy peace on the Grid, even if the peace was frequently shattered. She settled in the city core, retaking the central complex. She worked with the faction leaders to organize her fellow programs. Anyone who lost their disks in the shockwave that almost destroyed the city were given new ones from the Game Grid Sirens. Risie took anyone under her wing, finding them a purpose. She also kept all the disks that had no owners. She worked not only on making sure the faction leaders kept peace between them, but also tried to find the disks' original owners.

Two disks she kept for herself. Early in her leadership someone found them on the shore of the Sea of Simulation. Risie checked them in private. They were Rinzler's disks. She didn't know how he lost them, but if he had, she assumed he was dead. On one disk was the Rinzler core program code and on the other the Tron core program code. These two disks she kept in her private quarters.

Risie was thinking about how this all happened while she sat at a large desk on the top floor of the complex. A group of Sirens, grateful for being released from their service on the Game Grid, had made her a new set of armor. Risie's arms, legs and back still held dark red lines. Her chest only had two dark blue lines, one across her shoulders and one down the middle of her chest. These were usually hidden by a long white coat that also concealed her face under the hood.

Two programs brought in a rogue program without a disk. The rogue program was yelling, begging for her life to be spared.

"We found it by the Sea of Simulation looking for energy nodes," one of the escorts said.

"Take it to the Sirens and put it with the others," Risie said.

The rogue program shrieked.

"Please, not the Games!" the program cried out.

Risie stood. A soft sigh escaped her lips.

"The original Games were disabled two cycles ago," Risie said, "you'll be working with the Scavengers trying to restore the city."

The rogue program paused in shock. One of the programs escorted her out as she regained her composure, thanking Risie for her life and kindness. The other escort, the program that had first approached her three cycles ago, stayed behind.

"There is one Scavenger you should meet," he said.

"When?" Risie said, "I've been so busy I barely have time to recharge and after the survey is my first break in a long time."

"Well, he's here actually," he said, "they say they found him washed up at the Sea of Simulation. No disk, no memory. He's the best Scavenger though and even competes in the unofficial Games, where he's undefeated."

Risie swallowed hard.

"Let him in. This may take some time," she said.

"You know him?" he said.

"No," she said, "but I may have his disk."

As always, restoring a disk to its owner was a private matter. The program nodded and left, letting in another program. The new program stood in front of the closed door. He looked around then approached Risie. She moved to the front of her desk, trying to get a better look at him. The white glowing "T" on the program's chest created a knot in her stomach.

"You came to see me," Risie said.

"They say you keep lost disks," the program said, "I thought you might have mine."

She swallowed again. Here was Tron, right in front of her, with no memory of anything he had ever done. He didn't remember being Tron, or Rinzler.

"We found a lot of disks in the rubble," she said, "most are from programs that were derezzed."

"So how do you know if a program is alive?" he said.

Risie closed her eyes. She wanted to tell him she didn't have his disk, or give him a blank one. Deep inside, she knew she had no right to keep his past from him. For good or evil, he was her oldest friend.

"I think I do," she said, "have your disk I mean…but I need time to check. Can you come back after the next survey?"

"Do you know who I am?" he said, "I hear programs talking. They're afraid of me. No one tells me why, but I can tell. Was I one of Clu's Black Guards?"

She clenched her fists. Every pain Clu had caused her never compared to this. She lowered her head.

"I think I know," she said, "you are a very old program. It's complicated and something I don't want anyone else to hear."

"So where do I go?" he said.

Risie reached into a drawer behind her. She pulled out a small map. She handed it to him.

"There is an old building between the Sea and the Game Grid," she said, "it's where I used to live. Meet there."

He took the disk and left. Risie went back to her work, letting it fill her thoughts. Time passed and she left the complex with a handful of other programs to survey the progress of the Scavengers. The city core was finally stable. When Risie returned to the complex, she headed straight for her private quarters. She pulled out a black box from under her couch and opened it. Two orange disks stared back at her. She pulled out the disks and combined them, changing into a black coat and riding her Lightcycle away from the complex.

She arrived after the program that had been Tron. He was looking out over the Sea of Simulation. Risie pulled out the orange disk. There was a chance that she would not awaken Tron, but Rinzler. She no longer had the strength to fight Rinzler and knew that if that was the program she awakened, she was as good as dead. She decided it was worth the risk.

"You're early," she said.

"I know this place," he said, "There was a small house here. I would watch the Games from here if I couldn't make it to the Arena for the match."

"I have to tell you something before I give you this," she said, holding out the orange disk.

Their eyes met. Risie sat on the rubble of her old home. She turned the disk over in her hands.

"You are my oldest friend," she said, "a lot of things happened, to both of us, that are better left forgotten. A lot of the programs we knew are gone and we've both done things we're not proud of. This is going to hurt a lot. It may even rewrite your core program. You'll remember everything in time."

"It's worth it," he said," I have to know."

"Remember," she said, "live in the moment…"

"And let it all go," he said, "I told you that your first day."

"Stand here and hold onto something," she said, "the upload will be painful, but I'll reboot you and you'll be alright. Are you absolutely sure?"

He nodded. He stood where she indicated and leaned over, grabbing onto the ruined building. Risie took his white, almost blank, disk and clicked the orange one into place. At first nothing happened. Then his armor lines flickered and he screamed. He fell to his knees, clutching the ruins so hard that they bent under his grip. Risie knelt beside him and put a hand on his shoulder. His armor lines went dark and he crumpled beside her.

Risie turned the disk on his back, triggering the reboot. She held her breath as the lines lit up. At first they were orange, then flickered and changed to light blue. He jolted upright.

"Tron?" she said timidly.

"Risie?" he said, confused.

"Oh, Tron!" she said.

She wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his chest. Fluid filled her eyes and streamed down her face.

"Tron, you're alive," she said, "you're alive."

"I feel like I've been dreaming," he said, "I think I did something terrible. My program is still recompiling."

"Clu repurposed you," she said, "but it's all over now."

"Rinzler," he said, "he named me Rinzler."

"Don't think about it," she said, "you'll remember and that will be painful enough."

Tron put his hands on Risie's shoulders and sat her up. He looked at her, unable to see her face.

"Your color is all wrong," he said, "what happened?"

She bit her lip and thought about telling him nothing. Before she could finish the thought however, she found herself telling him everything. When Rise was done, Tron became perfectly still.

"You did that?" he finally said, "for me? Why?"

"I never figured out why. It just felt right," she said, putting a hand on her chest, "here."

"Is Flynn alive?" he said.

Risie shook her head and shrugged. Both were silent for a long time. One would go to speak, then fall silent again. Tron reached up in the silence and pulled Risie's hood back. Her face made him pause.

Small clusters of pixels were missing. She still had the black line across her face from Clu's betrayal. One eye was blue and the other red to match her armor lines.

"Not what you remember," she said.

"It looks like you're falling apart," he said.

"I am," she said matter-of-factly, "I probably only have five, maybe ten cycles until the deterioration becomes critical and interrupts my basic functions."

"Why don't you reboot?" he said.

"It will take a full cycle for me to reboot and there are still gaps in the code that won't repair," she said, "I'd need a User to write new code for the gaps. And without Flynn…"

Risie got to her feet without finishing the thought aloud. She looked out over the Sea of Simulation. She knew somewhere out there the portal was dark, if it had survived the chaos of the shockwave at all. No one expected the Users to return. The programs of the system were on their own now.

"I don't have time," Risie said, "everyone looks to me to keep the Grid stable. The faction leaders hold an uneasy alliance. They're afraid to challenge me."

"In your condition, they'd win," Tron said.

"They don't know that," she said, "they all remember me as the Black Slayer or your assistant working with the ISOs."

Tron got to his feet as Risie pulled up her hood.

"How am I going to face them?" he said, "I failed them all."

"You adapt," she said, "or you hide on the Game Grid where it doesn't matter."

"What about you?" he said.

"I'll try to hold them together," she said, "this is my life now, for however much longer it lasts."

She turned to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"What's important for you, Tron," she said, "is that you're a free program again."

She pulled out a baton from under her coat. She engaged her Lightcycle. She looked back at him and held out another baton.

"You can ride with me and see where it takes you," she said, "or you can forget again and become something else."

"What would you do?" he said.

"I chose to forget and it almost destroyed me," she said, "but I never forgot about what I thought was most important."

He took the baton and engaged a Lightcycle of his own. He looked out at the city.

"I fight for Flynn's dream," he said, "for the Users."

"Let's hope the come back someday," she said.

They rode into the city together and for the first time in a long time, Risie was happy. There was hope on the Grid again.


	5. Falling

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Tron. Disney owns Tron.

Since Tron had become himself again, he made it a point to restore the Games to the way Flynn had envisioned. Four cycles later, he achieved it. No one died in the Games and so they were reinstated. The first thing Tron did when they opened was compete. He was his old self when he competed and Risie was always there to watch, hiding behind the crowds. They used it as a time to be themselves.

Risie's program code wouldn't last more than a few more cycles, that much was certain. Tron had started taking over some of the responsibilities she had set for herself. To his surprise, most programs had not blamed him for what had happened and welcomed him like a hero. Everyone came to see him compete, like the cycles when the system was new and it seemed like nothing would ever disturb the peace. Programs could forget the horror of the last few cycles, and the tyranny of Clu. That made Risie happy.

Risie sat above the stands, watching the current match. Of course, Tron was undefeated, but he had a lot of close calls. This match was one of them. It was a Lightcycle race and the challenger had derezzed not only Tron's Lightcycle, but the spare Tron often carried. Now the challenger was on his Lightcycle and Tron was on foot. The crowd gasped as Tron calmly pulled out his disk while the challenger rode straight for him. At the last second, Tron ducked and spun his body to the side, slicing his disk into the Lightcycle. The rider lost control and the Lightcycle exploded into a pile of pixels. By the time the challenger recovered, Tron was standing over him with his disk ready to strike.

Risie clapped her hands as Tron was declared the winner of the race. He smiled at the challenger, helping them to their feet and clapping them on the back. Tron looked into the crowd and caught sight of Risie. She waved at him. He waved his disk and left the Arena.

They met outside as Tron exited the Arena. He looked Risie up and down. Her deterioration was getting worse. Old wounds had started to form cracks in her armor. The injury his eyes fell to was the one on her arm, the one he had given her as Rinzler. Every time he saw it he had a knot in his stomach. Risie saw his eyes and pulled the sleeve down on her coat.

"Did you try to let him win?" Risie said as they walked towards the central complex.

"What makes you say that?" Tron said.

"The way you took out his Lightcycle," she said, "you just stood there and waited for him."

He smiled but said nothing. Two of the faction leaders were waiting for them at the complex. One looked furious and the other one was almost as angry.

"What happened this time?" Risie said as they approached.

"Someone tried to access the archives," one said.

"So?" Risie said, "The archives are open to all the programs. We can't afford for ignorance to let us repeat the past."

"It was on the creation of the ISOs," the other said, "and it wasn't a program."

"A User accessed the Grid?" Tron said.

"All evidence points to that conclusion," the first said, "but why did they access it from outside rather than come here?"

"Maybe the portal was destroyed," Risie said, "we knew it was possible and prepared for it. Whoever it is knows about the ISOs, meaning they have been to this system before. We are still a closed system."

"They abandoned us!" the second said, "they don't deserve access to the system."

"This system is a free system for the Users," Tron said, "that was its purpose and that's the way it'll stay. Anything different is against everything we've worked for."

The two leaders walked away whispering to each other. Tron was furious at the idea that they would want to block information from the Users. He looked at Risie next to him, who was clutching her arm against her ribs. She was rubbing it a little, which told him that she was trying to ignore whatever pain was there.

"Is it bothering you again?" he said.

"A little," she said, "nothing worse than usual."

He shook his head. That phrase didn't mean much anymore, considering her worst pain left her crying out in pain. The code connecting her combat and Lightcycle subroutines was gone, leaving her defenseless. He didn't let her leave the complex anymore without him or another trustworthy program. As they went inside, he made a note to take the two faction leaders off his list.

Tron went to check the security of the city while Risie went to her private quarters. She never had the heart to tell him just how much pain she was in, especially her arm. She went to her table of tools, still trying to invent something new, when a light outside caught the corner of her eye. She turned to look at it when everything changed.

Her vision started to blur and she collapsed. The sound of pixels shattering told her that her core program was finally failing. She glanced at the sky. There was a single white light above the Sea of Simulation. The portal to the User world was open. She couldn't think of what this meant as pain erupted in her body, causing the world to keep spinning around her.

Tron entered moments later. Her left arm was gone, shattered by the deterioration of her program code. She was curled up in pain when he found her. He ran up to her, rolling her onto her back.

"Risie!" he said, "talk to me."

"Look," was all she said.

She turned to look at the light outside. He caught where her line of sight was going. Tron stood in shock. There was a User on the Grid. He turned to Risie to see her perfectly still. Her eyes were open, but there was no other sign she was online. Her armor lines were flickering and fading.

"I'll find them," he said as he picked her up, "just hang on."

He laid her on the couch and sprinted out of the complex.

Tron's Lightcycle skidded to a halt in front of the sign to Flynn's Arcade. No one had been here since the portal had closed last time, thinking that the Users had abandoned them. Tron ran inside, trying to find the User that had accessed the portal.

What he found was a disk in front of his face, ready to slice it in half.

"Are you the one that came through the portal?" Tron said, not able to see who was holding the disk through their black helmet.

"I was," a male voice came from around the corner, "Quorra, who's there?"

The program in front of him didn't answer. The voice's owner came to stand next to the other program. Tron's voice caught in his throat as he recognized the User. He had almost killed Sam Flynn last time they had met. He had been Rinzler then and Sam was trying to save his father. The last time they had seen each other, Tron had finally overcome his corrupted programming long enough to try and kill Clu before Sam and the others with him made it to the portal.

"Tron?" Sam said.

Tron nodded. Sam put a hand on the shoulder of the program holding out the disk. The program lowered their disk and opened their helmet. Tron knew this face too. Quorra, the last ISO.

"I know I did some terrible things to you both," Tron said, "I won't ask you to forgive me, but I need your help."

"Name it," Sam said.

Tron was taken aback by Sam's willingness to help without question. It reminded Tron of Flynn and his trusting nature.

"Quorra, was it?" Tron said, "did you know Risie?"

Quorra nodded.

"Her core program code is deteriorating," he said, "it hit critical when we saw the portal open. Can either of you help her?"

"I have no idea," Sam said, "my dad built the system and I was only here the once."

"Please," Tron said, "just try."

Sam nodded. Tron led them on their Lightcycles to the central complex. They used the back entrance Tron and Risie had created when they wanted to escape to the Games unnoticed. The lift led them to Risie's private quarters. When they arrived, Quorra ran up to where Risie lay, putting a hand on the other program's chest.

"She's stable," Quorra said, "but I don't know for how long. This is really bad."

Quorra removed the coat to reveal the extent of the damage. All of Risie's armor lines were cracked. The blue lines on her chest were dark and the red on the rest of her body was slowly flickering out.

"She said once that there were gaps in her program that only a User could repair," Tron said, "we didn't think you would be back before her program failed."

Sam quietly took Risie's disk and accessed the programming. He sat in front of the couch for a long time before he took his eyes off the code. He looked up at Quorra and shook his head. He put the disk on the floor in front of him.

"My dad wrote this," Sam said, "it's more complex than anything I've worked with. I saw him fix Quorra's code once. I'd be working in the dark."

"Is there anything you can do?" Tron said.

Sam was quiet again. He stared at the code, then at Tron. Sam let out a long sigh and finally spoke.

"I can try something," Sam said, "but it could destroy her code as much as it could repair it."

"What do you need?" Tron said.

"I need another stack of code," Sam said, "do you have an extra disk around? I can try to copy the code from that disk into the gaps in her code. If it works, it should bridge the gaps and then I should be able to realign the code."

Tron handed Sam his disk. Quorra stared at Tron in shock as the security program explained.

"I technically have two core program codes," he said, "she risked herself time and again to get me back. Take it from mine."

"What if your corrupted code overrides your current code?" Quorra said.

"Then you can break the disk," Tron said, "that will keep Rinzler from activating. We can always find a backup of me somewhere before all this happened."

Sam took the disk and nodded. Tron sat on the floor beneath the arm of the couch and went offline as Sam accessed his disk.

The next thing Tron knew, he was wide awake and Quorra was yelling.

"Can you stop it?" Quorra yelled.

"I don't even know how it started!" Sam yelled back, "I told you I had no idea what I was doing. We have to get Tron back online."

"What happened?" Tron said as he stood.

"Tron!" Sam said, "I filled in a lot of the gaps, then suddenly there was a line of code that attached to a line in yours all on its own. Now a whole routine has jumped and I can't stop it."

Tron looked at Risie, who let out a scream. Her whole body tensed and her back arched. All of her armor lines were now a dark red, pulsing with life. Her helmet was folded down, hiding her face from his view. Tron grabbed Risie's wrist.

"The entire Rinzler core program code is in Risie now," Sam said, "I couldn't stop it. I can't tell if it's healing her code or tearing it apart."

Tron let go of Risie. He looked at her and stopped in surprise. Where he had grabbed her wrist, her armor lines were dark blue, the same color her armor lines had been the day she had come online. Risie screamed again, and then went very still.

"It's over," Sam said.

"Try to reboot her," Quorra said, "Her lines aren't dark."

Sam nodded. With Tron's help the two rolled her onto her side and clicked her disk into place. Sam turned it, triggering the reboot. Tron watched her as her lines faded out while the reboot started. She had said this would take a full cycle.

Could the system last a full cycle without her? 

It did.

While Risie was initially rebooting, Sam explained his plan to Tron. Quorra and Sam were going to recreate the situations that cause the emergence of the ISOs as best they could. They were here to work on the isomorphic virus that had infected the Sea of Simulation. They would be coming in every night, though Tron wasn't sure what that meant. He soon learned that it meant they were there almost as often as they weren't.

While Risie continued to reboot, Tron led the faction leaders. He introduced them to Sam. Some left the alliance after this, and some instantly began to worship Sam as much as they had his father. Sam wasn't sure what to make of it, but he did find that his task of recreating the birth of the ISOs was easier with the help.

Quorra and Sam had just left again when Risie finally woke. Tron was sitting, watching the scoreboard on her wall that Sam had installed while she was rebooting. Tron didn't compete much in the Games unless Quorra was there to watch Risie. Tron was also no longer undefeated. Sam's name was above Tron's in all the Lightcycle races and most of the Disk Wars.

"Tron?" Risie's voice pulled Tron away from the scoreboard.

Tron spun around and sat next to Risie as she struggled to sit up on the couch. She held her head in her hands. Her armor lines were all dark blue again.

"How long?" she said.

"A full cycle and then some," Tron said, "we almost lost you."

"I feel terrible," she said, "like my head is going to split open."

Thinking of his own reboot, Tron put an arm around Risie's shoulders.

"You were right, the portal was open," he said, "there was a User here, Sam Flynn. He's Flynn's son. He tried to repair your program."

"Tried?" she said.

Tron took a deep breath and told her what had happened. In one fluid motion, Risie pulled out her disk. One side was blue and the other was an orange-red.

"What does this mean?" she said.

"I don't know," he said, "and neither does Sam. We can only hope we don't get another Rinzler out of the deal."

"There's a way to find out," she said, "but you won't like it."

He looked at her.

"Game Grid," she said, "after hours."

"As soon as Sam gets back," he said, "you and me."

"Don't hold back, Tron," Risie said, "just in case."


	6. Release

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Tron, Disney owns Tron. Here's the final chapter, please R&R :)

There was no crowd in the Arena to cheer them on, no care free atmosphere as the anticipation of the match settled on them. Tron and Risie were alone in the Arena. The only sound either heard was the sound of their own breathing under their helmets. This was probably a bad idea, but the lack of fighting Risie had done since Clu imprisoned her had left an itch in her mind no other activity could calm.

Tron drew his disk, crouching into an attack position. Risie mirrored him. They circled each other, trying to decide how to begin. Risie struck first, flinging her disk at Tron. He easily dodged it and threw his own. They went back and forth until, during one throw, Risie charged him. He had been paying attention to her disk and could not get out of the way before she tackled him to the ground. He heard a soft growl in her chest as he flung her aside.

They engaged in close combat after that. Every move one made the other countered. Neither combatant noticed Sam and Quorra as they entered the Arena stands. Tron and Risie were a blur of motion. It was a stalemate. Then everything changed.

After one of her jumps, Risie's left arm went limp. Tron paused as she shook her head, clenching her fist. The armor lines on her arm flickered, then changed to a dark orange. She took up a new battle stance and split her disks in two. Tron didn't have time to process this development before both disks were careening towards his head. He threw his own disk at her, but she dodged more easily than he had ever seen her able to. She caught her disks and jumped at him. She landed on his chest, knocking him onto his back. He saw his own disk fly past, out of reach.

She had one knee on his stomach and a hand on his chest, holding one disk to his throat. She raised her other disk above her head. Tron folded his helmet back.

"Risie," he said, "look at me."

Her helmet folded back. Her eyes were glazed over and Tron knew what had happened. The Rinzler code was in control of Risie's combat routines.

"Risie," he said, "you can overcome this."

Her hand started shaking. Her disk fell as her hand went limp. She quickly backed away from him, her eyes clearing. She was breathing hard and her eyes revealed the panic she felt.

"I couldn't stop," she said quietly, "I could see you, but it was like something else was moving me in the Arena."

Tron slowly stood, walking over to Risie. She took another step back away from him.

"I could have killed you, Tron," she said.

"You didn't," he said.

They looked at each other in silence. The sound of footfalls broke the silence as Sam and Quorra joined them.

"Are you all right?" Sam said.

"I'm intact," Tron said.

The security program looked down at himself. There were scratches on his armor. Apparently, he didn't dodge as well as he thought he had. He looked up to see Quorra talking quietly to Risie. Quorra retrieved Risie's disks, clicking them into place on Risie's back. Quorra started to arrange Risie's code, doing so carefully as to cause Risie no pain. When she was done, Quorra waved to Sam. Tron followed Sam as the User approached Quorra.

"So what was it?" Sam said.

"The Rinzler code is in charge of all her combat routines," Quorra said, "I used what you taught me to arrange her code so all of the 'Rinzlers' are in one place. Now if it engages, she can bypass it."

Quorra tapped the area inside Risie's disks on the other program's back.

"There is a logo here that will light up when the bypass activates," Quorra said.

Risie rubbed her eyes. Tron smiled. It was what Flynn had done whenever he overworked himself. Flynn said it was because he was tired and needed some sleep. Programs didn't sleep, but Tron knew Risie had to have exhausted herself. Tron walked forward and scooped Risie into his arms.

"Let's go home," he said.

They arrived at Risie's private quarters just as all the other programs were starting their tasks. They sat around the scoreboard as a new set of matches were announced and getting ready to begin. Sam kept smiling at Tron. Finally, the User spoke.

"So, did you think about our offer?" Sam said.

"I just don't know," Tron said, "I'd almost rather stay here."

"What's going on?" Risie said.

"We offered for Tron to come back to the 'Real World' with us," Sam said, "we're going to reboot the entire Grid."

"It's never been done," Risie said, "why now?"

"It should reset everything to its original state," Sam said, "besides, we think he's earned a vacation."

Risie fell quiet as the first match went underway. She looked at each of the others in turn, her eyes finally settling on Tron.

"Go," she said.

Everyone froze with their eyes on her.

"Someone has to remember what happened here," Risie said, "to keep it from happening again. You're the only program Flynn didn't write himself. I'll keep things safe here. Go meet your User."

Sam sat back, watching the match end. Tron was looking at the User, his eyes pleading for the other to say something.

"I'll see you all off," Risie said, "I need a good sailer ride and I've never been to the portal."

Risie looked down at her hands.

"Will the reboot bring Flynn back?" she said.

"I hope so," Sam said.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Risie said.

Again, all eyes were on her. Tron went to speak, but Quorra beat him to it.

"Reboot the system now?" Quorra said.

Risie nodded.

"We have to let the programs know," Sam said.

"Don't," Risie said, "they won't understand and they will likely panic. It'll be like taking a…"

"Nap," Sam finished for her.

"Besides," Risie said, "when it's over, who is going to know the difference anyway?"

"I agree," Quorra said, "plus, this should help us find exactly where the virus is in the Sea of Simulation. You have that meeting with ENCOM in the morning anyway; this is our only chance for the next week or two."

"Alright," Sam said, "let's get going."

All four left the complex. They walked to the Solar Sailer docks. Quorra reprogrammed it and soon they were heading towards the light east of the city. Risie sat at the front of the sailer, completely fascinated with the light ahead of them.

"Have you ever seen the portal up close?" Quorra said to Tron.

"Many times," Tron said, "I was the only one with access to the area. I'd escort Flynn here when he left. It was a time we could just talk about nothing."

"You miss it?" Quorra said.

"Yes," Tron said, "I miss him, and all my friends from the old system. I have discovered something over the cycles though. You never forget them or stop missing them, but you do find others that help so it doesn't hurt anymore. You find new friends and have new adventures."

His eyes settled on Risie's back. A smile crept on his face. He realized she really was his best friend now. True, no one would replace Yori or any of the others in the old system, but Risie was more like them than anyone he had ever known here. He suddenly wondered if she would come with him to visit the old system, if it was still there.

The solar sailer landed and they ascended the stairs in front of the portal. Risie's jaw dropped as she saw the pillar of white light engulfing the far platform. Tron clapped her on the shoulder.

"It never gets old," Tron said, "it's amazing."

Risie wordlessly nodded.

Quorra and Sam walked into the light, pulling out their disks. Tron stopped just before the light could encase him.

"Changing your mind?" Sam said.

Tron shook his head and turned to Risie, who was still standing at the entrance. Her hands were folded in front of her and fluid filled her eyes. Sam had finally explained what that meant to Tron during previous cycle; Risie was crying.

"It doesn't feel right," Tron said, "how much time do we have?"

"Not much," Sam said, "once we got here, the portal stared to close."

Tron held out his hand to Risie. She tilted her head.

"You've lived through as much as I have," he said, "you deserve this too."

Risie walked up and took his hand. Neither noticed Sam and Quorra smiling.

"Come with me," Tron said, "I want you to meet Alan1 too."

"Uhm…okay," Risie said, "what about…"

"The Grid will handle itself in the reboot," Tron said, "It just feels wrong leaving you here."

They walked into the light. All four raised their disks above their heads.

_Live in the moment._

The disks floated out of reach, rising towards the light above them

_And let it all go._

Then Risie saw nothing but light.

_~fin_

**Author's Notes:** Well, that's it. My first posted fanfic. So, let me know what you think. I've had people ask me about an extended edition or maybe a few shorts on what happens in the Real World. I haven't decided what I want to do yet and would love your input. If you don't want to leave it in a review, you can always send me a message.

Thanks for everything to anyone that helped. Especially my two "minions". You know who you are. Wouldn't have had the guts to finish this without your support. And to my editor, my hubby. Yah, he had to suffer though this from its infancy. He's such a sweetie.

-Dani


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